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Muslims urged to confront 'enemies' of Islam

   JEDDAH (AFP) - Foreign ministers of the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) opened a meeting in Jeddah on Tuesday with a Saudi call to confront attacks on Islam by "enemies" at home and abroad. The foreign ministers were holding a preparatory ministerial conference to draft the agenda of a two-day OIC summit starting Wednesday in the Holy City of Mecca in western Saudi Arabia. The ministerial conference was due to discuss two documents: A "Mecca Declaration" and a 10-year "plan of action to confront the challenges of the 21st century." Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Faisal said the OIC should seek to counter the "harsh offensive on Islam from enemies abroad and some of its own children with deviant ideologies." The prince was referring to extremists, notably Al Qaeda terror network of Saudi-born Osama Ben Laden. OIC countries should "correct the image of Islam in the world and defend its principles with dialogue and wisdom," said Prince Saud. Before the conference went behind closed doors, he said: "This is an extraordinary summit... meant to discuss the challenges facing the Islamic nation and to draft a clear programme of action to confront them. "We want this summit... to be a turning point in the history of our nation and an important turning point in its path toward a future that would be better than the present," he said. The Saudi foreign minister said the Mecca Declaration would "present a general view of the situation as well as the common aspirations and hopes of our nation." The Muslim world "calls for forgiveness ... among peoples and for combating injustice, aggression and corruption", he said. Saud said the 10-year action plan was "meant to confront the challenges faced by our Islamic nation, and is based on the recommendations, visions and ideas reached by scholars and intellectuals." The plan also provides for a restructuring of the OIC, including its Islamic Jurisprudence Academy which "should become the highest reference in jurisprudence... and put an end to the multitudes of references and conflicting fatwas," or religious edicts, he said. Prince Saud was referring to the fatwas issued by extremists, including by Al Qaeda in Iraq, that have tried to legitimise deadly attacks on civilians and political assassinations. The OIC's Turkish secretary general, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, said the 10-year plan "will be a roadmap for Islamic common action". The plan was meant to "confront the massive challenges... which affect our political, economic, cultural and scientific sectors and which weaken the Islamic nation in the world." He referred to "conflicts among Islamic states ... the deterioration of development and economic ratios, the increasing poverty and the decrease of the role of the private sector which in turn has aggravated unemployment." On Monday, the Saudi foreign minister said Islamic leaders would also discuss "a proposal to create a fund within the Islamic Bank for catastrophes and humanitarian issues in the Islamic world." They are also expect to approve a name change for the body to become the Organisation of Islamic Countries. The organisation, founded in 1969, is currently facing a financial crisis as several member states have not paid their annual contributions. Non-Muslim leaders of OIC member states will only participate in the summit via videoconference equipment from Jeddah, about 80 kilometres away from Mecca. Non-Muslims are forbiden entry to the Saudi cities of Mecca and Medina which are home to Islam's holiest shrines. THE JORDAN TIMES